McKenna handlers block The Stranger reporter from press conference – at first

David “Goldy” Goldstein, a writer for “The Stranger,” went to Rob McKenna’s press conference last week about the U.S. Supreme Court’s health-care ruling, only to be refused admittance by McKenna’s staff before the event began.

In a blog post about the incident last week, The Stranger said McKenna spokesman Dan Sytman told Goldstein that he wasn’t a journalist and couldn’t enter — prompting The Stranger to contact their lawyer and object.

On Monday, Sytman said in an interview that he wanted to talk to Goldstein first about not disrupting the event. Goldstein can be, shall we say, an abrasive presence.

Sytman said he needed some extra time to talk to Goldstein. Sytman says Goldstein dominated and disrupted a media conference call with an assistant attorney general about a year ago.

The Thursday news conference took place on public property — the Seattle attorney general’s office — and was held by McKenna as AG, not as a candidate for governor. McKenna had signed on to the lawsuit that the court decided last Thursday.

In any case, Goldstein eventually was admitted — before the attorney general began speaking, Sytman says. Goldstein asked no questions, I have been told, and left. But a question remains about the handling of someone who, by most accounts, had a right to be at the news conference from the beginning.

About this blog

Politics Northwest is the go-to blog for politics in our region. The blog explores national, state and local political news and issues. Reporters from Washington, D.C., to Seattle City Hall to the state capital in Olympia contribute. Editors are Richard Wagoner and Beth Kaiman.